Long wave from missile hit Baku to Moscow flight

The Russian authorities have not yet recognised their responsibilities in the tragedy that cost the lives of 38 people in Kazakhstan on 25th December and have not responded to the requests for compensation. President Aliev's plane itself is believed to have been targeted and local analysts point the finger at geopolitical manoeuvres. Meanwhile Azerbaijan closes the Dom Rossii suspected of espionage.

Baku (AsiaNews) - Relations between Azerbaijan and Russia show no sign of improving following the crash of an Azal airliner on 25 December at Aktau airport in Kazakhstan, which caused 38 deaths, almost certainly due to a Russian missile.

Baku is threatening to bring a case against Moscow before an international court, given that the Russian authorities have so far not recognised their responsibilities and have not followed up on the requests of President Ilham Aliev, who is waiting for the guilty parties to be punished and for compensation for the damages.

After the investigations carried out in Brazil, where the aeroplane was built, and in Kazakhstan, where the tragedy occurred, the Azerbaijani commission of inquiry now has the wreckage of a Pantsir-S missile, which the Russians allegedly used to shoot down the aeroplane, as reported by Reuters on the basis of government sources.

A member of the Baku parliament, Rasim Musabekov, stated in an interview with Radio Svoboda that ’ we even know who launched the missile, who gave the order and who pressed the button, and we want them to recognise that the accident happened because of certain people, they should have warned that Groznyj airport was closed to civilian aircraft and that the crew should have turned back, and not tried to land’.

The Azerbaijani agency Ara has announced that ‘the dossier of evidence, facts and clues is being collected in order to begin proceedings at the international court’, emphasising that Moscow will have to publicly recognise its guilt, otherwise ‘Baku will have to take the necessary initiatives accordingly’.

The Turan agency observes that, besides the shooting down of the passenger aeroplane, the Azeris are concerned about other circumstances, considering that on the day of the catastrophe technical problems were encountered in Russian airspace also by the aeroplane of the president of Azerbaijan.

Fears for President Aliev's plane were already circulating in January, but the Baku authorities had not yet denied or confirmed this information; however, a statement appeared on Turan according to which ‘the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport has practically admitted that the official plane of the Baku-1 presidency encountered some technical difficulties on its way to St. Petersburg for the CSI summit’.

On that day it was officially stated that Aliev was returning from St. Petersburg because of the tragic events in Kazakhstan, but in reality, according to the reconstruction, ‘his plane suddenly left Russian airspace and returned to Baku due to unforeseen radio-technical problems’.

Also according to Turan, the events of 25 December were ‘a cause for speculation in Azerbaijan about the undeclared aims behind them’, although no further accusations were made against Moscow, but the flaws in the GPS system, especially in the airspace under Russian control, suggest that there had been ‘deliberate attempts at interference’.

Some analysts suppose that these incidents could be part of wider geopolitical manoeuvres, taking into account various recent tensions between Russia and Azerbaijan regarding regional issues, such as the conflict with Armenia and others.

One rather sensational consequence of these problems is the request recently made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Baku to suspend the activities in Azerbaijan of the cultural institute Dom Rossii, the ‘House of Russia’, which is not properly registered in the country and does not correspond to the requirements of ‘reciprocity and bilateral agreement’ imposed by Azerbaijani legislation.

The head of the Russian agency Rossotrudnichestvo, Evgenij Primakov, replied in a television interview that Russia had asked several times for the registration agreement, but the question ‘has remained unanswered, the ball is in Azerbaijan's court’.

On the other hand, Azerbaijani television has spoken of the Dom Rossii as an espionage centre working against Azerbaijani interests, under the cover of cultural and humanitarian activities.

Turan concludes that ‘although the two countries remain official strategic allies, these events could jeopardise relations between them’.